Alice and the Red Queen
by AstrisDreams
Summary: After the fire that happened as a result of the Flash experiment Wally is the taken in by the League of Shadows in the ensuing chaos and trained to be an assassin along with a young Artemis who's father stole her from her mother decided to train her at a young age. All is well until one day they decide not to kill a down Batman. Very long oneshot!


**Not my best work but it's here. Start trying a new writing style half way through.**

* * *

"I knew I should've killed you when I had the chance."

Batman said nothing but raised an eyebrow at the pouting teen.

"Did you have to take all my knives?"

Once again he stayed silent ignoring the other teens whining. He watched them converse with each other silently.

"So let me get this straight. If we join your team of baby superheroes you won't throw us in prison. Though it wouldn't matter of you did because we'd be back with Cadmus or the Shadows in a matter of hours. Let's see saving the world or torture for being caught. I'd say the decision is simple right Alice?"

"I never wanted to be a assassin in the first place though it is fun. I guess it beats the punishment that'll be awaiting us once we get back."

"The League will do our best to protect you from Cadmus and the League of Shadows."

"Dad will be so disappointed. I bet you're not gonna miss Klarion huh Queenie."

Batman stayed silent glancing between the two teens. He hadn't been aware of the male teen's alias.

"Don't ask." The teen said, "I'll miss him as much as you'll miss Ice Breath."

"We'll join your little team. Just be warned if we don't exactly play well with others."

"Are all your aliases named after Alice In Wonderland char acters?"

"We also have a Greek Gods theme and a Emotions theme."

"What are your names?"

"Alice."

"Red."

"Queenie."

The boy and girl glared at each other before turning to Batman.

"Would you believe us if we said we were fraternal twins."

Silence.

"How about if we were dating."

"Doesn't matter, much he's Batman he probably knows about you."

"You can call me Alice, and him Red."

"What happened to Queenie?"

"Only I am allowed to call him that."

"I suppose you should meet the team."

"Dressed like this?"

Batman shrugged, "You shouldn't have put up such a fight."

"Oh blame us."

"Can I have my knives back. It took me a while to gain that collection."

Batman looked at the pile of daggers, knives and Sais they had confiscated from the redheaded boy when he was unconscious and pursued his lips.

"I'll take that as a no. Let's go meet the team. I heard one of the team members is an Atlantean, think he's prehensile."

"Red, you have a sick, sick mind. I have taught you well."

* * *

"Criminals." Robin said.

"I prefer the term ex-cons." Alice purred, flipping her blond hair over her shoulder.

"Stop flirting with the kid Alice. He can't even look you in the eyes." Red said.

"Jealous?"

"Batman what's going on?" Aqualad asked.

"These are you new teammates Alice and Red."

"Look I don't mind being dressed like this because let's face it I look hot, but I'm starting to fill a draft."

"You're letting two criminals on the team!" Superboy said.

"Ex-cons." Red purred.

"Batman you can't be serious." Robin protested, "They're-"

"-Your new teammates. I suggest you treat them with respect. However your suspicion is not without worry. Do not let Red near any sharp objects. Make sure to keep an eye on Alice."

"Aw what's the matter Bats? Don't you trust us?" Alice pouted batting her eyelashes.

Batman glared at her before grabbing Red and pining him to the ground.

"Kinky I like it."

Batman stayed silent and grabbed the disassembled comn link from the teen.

"I just wanted to see how it worked. I would've had it fixed in a jiffy. Sides the owner didn't mind." Red protested.

"The owner didn't know." Batman hissed letting the teen stand up and turned to Miss Martian, "I suggest you four talk telepathically if you have things you want to discuss in private. Try to keep a better watch on your possessions."

She blushed feeling around her ear as she spotted the broken comn link.

Batman nodded and left. The two criminals grinned at each other and smiled at the team.

"So, Superboy wanna give me a private tour." Alice winked.

"No!" Miss Martian shouted, "I mean we should do introductions first then we'll all go on a group tour." She said stressing the word group.

Alice and Red exchanged glances and rolled their eyes.

"You may call me Kaldur." Aqualad said.

"I'm M'gann or Megan."

"Conner."

"Robin."

"Ooh secret identity I dig that." Red said winking at him.

"What should we call you?" Kaldur asked.

Red and Alice exchanged glances staring at each other in stunned silence. Their actual names nobody had asked them that for a long time. It saddened them both that neither could really remember their names.

"Red's fine."

"So is Alice."

Alice and the Red Queen.

The Red Queen and Alice.

Alice and Red.

Red and Alice

But what were they before Red and Alice. Before Alice and Red. Before the Wonderland that was the League of Shadows.

* * *

 _"Why can't I come with you?" Artemis asked._

 _Jade turned around staring at her little sister, "You'd just slow me down. It's very girl for themselves in this family."_

 _"Where are you gonna go anyway maybe I can find you."_

 _"You won't be able to find me. I'll disappear like the Cheshire Cat." She shrugged._

 _"But-"_

 _"No buts!" Jade snapped climbing out of a window, she looked back one more time shaking her head, "I'm sorry Alice." She whispered before jumping out the window._

 _Artemis whimpered and curled into a ball drawing the blankets over her head. Dad was gonna be so mad when he came back._

* * *

 _"Wally." Mary West stood at the top of the basement stairs hands on her hips. "What are you doing down there?"_

 _"Nothing mom!" Wally answered not looking up from his chemistry set, "Just you know stuff."_

 _"We'll come up for dinner even geniuses need to eat."_

 _"Mo-om!" He groaned, "I'm on the verge of discovery."_

 _"Wallace Rudolph West. If you're not at the dinner table by the time I count to five you're gonna be in big trouble Mister."_

 _"Mom I'm six years old and a genius that doesn't work on me anymore."_

 _"1..."_

 _"That's not gonna work mom." Wally said turning back to his chemistry set._

 _"2..."_

 _"I don't care." Wally sing-songed._

 _"3..."_

 _Wally didn't move ignoring his mother._

 _"4..."_

 _"Okay! Okay! I'm coming!" Wally shouted running upstairs, "I was just kidding!"_

 _Rudolph chuckled in amusement as Wally ran into the kitchen._

 _"I thought you were to old for the count of five?" He teased._

 _"Hey you fall for it too!" Wally protested, pouting._

 _"Yeah well I never claimed to be to old for it to work." Rudolph shrugged._

* * *

 _A large hand gripped Artemis's shoulder waking her from sleep._

 _"Where is she?!"_

 _"I don't know. She just said she was gonna disappear like the Cheshire Cat. I don't know where she went."_

 _Sportsmaster looked at his daughter contemplating something and glared down at her. "Grab your stuff we're leaving."_

 _"Leaving?" Artemis muttered, "But what about mom? She gets out today remember."_

 _"Don't worry Artemis she'll meet us there." Sportsmaster said._

 _Artemis stared up at her father she didn't believe him not one bit, but what could she do?_

 _"Okay dad." She muttered._

* * *

 _Rudolph froze fork halfway to his mouth sniffing the air. "Do you smell something?"_

 _Mary and Wally both sniffed the air eyes widening in horror._

 _"A gas leak!"_

 _"My project!" Wally shouted standing up and running down to the basement._

 _"Wally don't go down there!" Mary shouted chasing after him followed by her husband._

 _They found him working on the chemistry set trying to fix his experiment._

 _"Young man get back here right now! I'm giving you to the count of three." Mary snapped._

 _"Wally it's not safe!"_

 _"I know what I'm doing. It this works I'll be-"_

 _"ONE!"_

 _Wally glanced at his mom and continued working on his experiment. He had to make this work._

 _"TWO."_

 _Wally bit his lip he was almost done._

 _"THR-WALLY!"_

 _At that moment Wally let out a horrified scream as he was struck by lightning and crashed into his chemistry set._

 _Mary West tried to reach for her son but was unable to as flames began to form from the lightning. Her and husband passed out soon after from smoke inhalation as the flames grew covering the house and bringing it crashing to the ground._

* * *

 _"I hate you!" Artemis shouted at the glass. "You can try to break me but you can't so go away."_

 _Her father had tricked her and brought her to his hideout. With villains who called themselves the shadows. They wanted to train her into being the perfect assassin. Artemis had kindly told them where to take their offer and where to put it. Growing up with a villainous family had given her quite the vocabulary._

 _"Look we can either do this the hard way or the easy way."_

 _Artemis glared at him narrowing her eyes at him._

 _"Hard way it is." Sportsmaster said gestured to the now see-through wall behind her. "See that boy if you don't coöperate we'll kill him and it'll be on your-"_

 _He trailed off as both he and Artemis watched him attack his kidnapper and disappearing in a blur._

 _"I don't think he needs my help." Artemis said smugly._

 _Sportsmaster glared at her pulling out a small Walkie-talkie. "Code Red the kid is a meta-human. A speedster from the looks of it."_

 _Artemis watched him leave and went back to staring at the room behind her. Empty. Why could that kid escape so easily?_

 _Hearing the door slid open with a hiss Artemis tensed preparing for the worst only to see the boy they had kidnapped._

 _"Come on I'm getting you outta here." He said grabbing her hand._

 _"How dd you get here?" Artemis asked._

 _"How about we focus on that later and try not to get recaptured by the psychopaths kidnapping children."_

* * *

 _Wally opened his eyes at the feel of fresh air on his face. One minute he was on fire literally flames licking at his skin and the next he was outside._

 _He watched in awe as the Flash raced back into his house. If anything happened to his parents he'd never forgive himself._

 _At that moment a cloth was pressed over his face and he began struggling to get out of his grip._

 _"Why hasn't this kid passed out yet?"_

 _Wally struggled frantically mumbling for help._

 _"Just knock him out."_

 _The cloth was removed from his face and Wally suck in a deep breath, growing dizzy._

 _"H-help." He cried out softly before a sharp crack to the head made his world turn black._

* * *

 _"Wake up."_

 _Wally woke up with a start looking around._

 _"Who are you and why did you kidnap me. I know the Flash he-"_

 _"He doesn't even know where you are." A figure said. "Sides I'm just using you as bait for a friend here. His daughter needs a little motivation too."_

 _Wally turned looking through a glass and saw a blonde girl glaring up at an older man and not just any man Sportsmaster, he had seen him on the news._

 _"Did you kidnap her too?"_

 _"Can't really kidnap you're own kid."_

 _"Why'd you kidnap me?"_

 _"Cute. Fishing for information most people might not have noticed. I'll tell you though. It wasn't planned you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."_

 _"I'm sorry my house burned down!" Wally snapped._

 _"Someone's a little touchy."_

 _Wally let out a growl launching himself out his attacker and randomly throwing punches. He was getting out of here one way or another_

 _He sped out the door his would be kidnapper had left open flying by everyone before pausing that girl had been kidnapped too he couldn't just leave her. The Flash wouldn't do that. With that he ran back and began looking for the room she was in._

 _"A metahuman child." Sportsmaster said, he glanced down at Artemis, "Guess I won't be needing you anymore."_

 _Artemis shot up hopeful, "So I can go back to mom?"_

 _Sportsmaster chuckled shaking his head, "Stupid child, you've seen to much. Why would I take that risk? No…no. You're useless to me now. I'll just have to get rid of you, make it look like an accident of course."_

 _"You're going to…m-murder me." Artemis stammered._

 _"Guess you aren't as dumb as you look after all."_

 _"NO!" Wally shouted, "Look I don't...I don't know what's going on, but you can't kill her. I'm not an idiot, I'm actually a child prodigy. Obviously you want me to do your bidding, but lets face it I'm not going down without a fight, so you may as well kill me now, but if you don't kill her I won't put up a fight I'll do whatever you say."_

 _"And what's to stop me from killing you right now?"_

 _"I'll train!" Artemis piped up, "I'll do whatever you say too, as long as you don't kill him."_

 _Sportsmaster grinned to himself, "I've got two assassins for the price of one, the shadows are gonna love this."_

* * *

"So where can we get some clothes that aren't ripped to shreds exposing our bodies to wandering eyes." Red said sarcastically before glancing at Alice, "Not that Alice isn't nice to look at." He grinned eying her up and down.

Alice rolled her eyes pushing his head away, "Shut up you perv."

"Ah, ah." He tskd holding up a finger, "But you slept with this perv." Red said

"That's right." Alice gasped, before deadpanning "Best five seconds of my life."

"Nice one, but you've obviously forgotten about my endurance and the fact that I vibrate." Red smirked.

"Are you two together?" Aqualad asked.

"In her dreams. I'm too hot for her to handle. Her sister on the other hand…"Red trailed off, "Sides she totally has a crush on Robin."

"Ha!" Artemis snorted, "You're the gay one, if anyone perverts little Robin it'll be you."

"First thing's first I'm not gay but if I was it'd be because I slept with you. Second I'm bisexual, metrosexual, or pansexual take your pick. Third of all I'm lazy, I wouldn't go after the little Robin because I'd end up doing all the work and that's not my style."

Robin fought the blush rushing to his cheeks, as he heard Superboy question what laziness had to do with the act of reproduction and M'gann's shock that two boys were able to be intimate with each other. These two new teammates would certainly be a handful.

* * *

Red let out another frustrated sigh as he turned and tossed in the bed he had been given. Finally making himself the most comfortable he could manage he sighed. The bed hurt his back, he wasn't use to such necessities in life. He wondered how Alice was doing right now, they'd never slept apart before it felt weird.

As if own cue a figure jumped out of the vent dropping on him.

"You know if I were an assassin you'd be dead." Alice smirked, "Oh wait I am. Sportsmaster would make you run laps for that."

"Actually Sportsmaster would make you run laps for actually thinking you could catch me. If I didn't know it was you, I would've cut you in half." Red grinned.

"Hardy har har." Alice deadpanned, rolling off of him and onto the bed, "Make room carrot top."

"Sheesh, so demanding how Cameron put up with you I'll never know." He snickered, scooting over.

"I wondered the same thing about you and Jinx."

"Ha, you're a riot!" Red, snarked back.

"Shut up, so how long do you think till Sportsmaster find us." Alice asked.

"I don't know. A week or two I bet."

"Do..you wanna go back?" Alice muttered.

Red sighed running fingers through his hair. "I don't know about you but I'm getting tired of murdering, plundering and all the lot."

Alice bit her lip staying silent as Red continued, "Not like it matters we have no where to go. If we run he'll find us then what?"

"I don't know, Red. I don't know."

* * *

"Wow." Alice deadpanned, "This is so boring."

"I know you think being superheroes there'd be shit to do." Red whined.

"Red language we don't wanna ruin the virtues of our saviors." Alice said in high pitched voice mimicking a 1950s accent.

"Of course not. I'm terribly sorry sometimes it just slips out ya know. Good thing no goody two shoes were here to snitch or by golly we'd be in big trouble." Red said mimicking a 1950s male voice.

"By golly indeed."

Both teams turned seeing Batman standing behind the couch they were lounging on.

"You know you would've really had me going there if I was still capable of being startled by jump scares." Red snickered.

"Where is your team of teacher's pets anyway?"

"At home. Miss Martian and Superboy are out exploring."

"You trust us to stay here on our own how sweet of you."

"If either of you had tried to leave the automated system would've alerted me."

"Than why are you here?" Alice scowled. "To babysit us?"

"To inform you that the two of you will be enrolling in Happy Harbor High School."

"School why? Especially one with the word Happy in it."

"It is against the law for children to not attend school."

"In case you haven't noticed we don't exactly follow the law."

"You do know." Batman said ignoring the pouting children. "You'll be attending under the names Artemis and Wally Mendez." He waited patiently for any sign of recognition and got none and inwardly mourned the loss of the innocence of the youth of children.

"Those are pretty stupid names." Red muttered, "Can I be Artemis?"

"Those are your names like it or not. Deal with it."

* * *

"This school is so preppy and perky." Artemis scowled, "I think I'm gonna barf."

"Well if you do, do so over there." Wally shrugged, pointing behind him.

"Jerk." Artemis said shoving him and sending him flying into another student making that student spill his lunch on himself.

"Thanks." Wally deadpanned, as Artemis snickered.

"Look man I'm really sorry." Wally mumbled, holding up his hands in defeat.

The student turned around and Wally cursed inwardly as he saw how big the guy he had bumped into was. _'Great.'_

"Oh you will be." The student said, grabbing Wally by his collar and pulling him up.

"Listen I don't wanna hurt you. But actually go ahead and hit me I can let out some steam."

The student turned around looking at Artemis, "Your boyfriend is about to die blondie."

"One he's not my boyfriend and two don't call me blondie."

"He's not your boyfriend." Another student said coming up to Artemis and wrapping a hand around her waist, "Sweet that means you're available."

"Not for you. Now remove your arm before I break it." She snapped.

The student holding Wally let out a snort before raising his arm back to punch him only for Wally to jump out of his hold and kick him sending him flying back.

"I warned you." Wally taunted, leaning against a locker.

"Please it'll take a lot more than that to knock me down." The student glared clutching his bruised jaw.

"Good it would've been a sad fight if that was the case." Wally smirked.

"So babe how about I show you around the school?" The other student said giving Artemis a once over.

"Sure." Artemis smiled, batting her eyelashes at him.

"Really!" He blinked before regaining composure, "I mean yeah sure awesome."

"After you handsome." She flirted.

Wally smirked dodging yet another punch and laughing at his opponent's frustration.

With another punch his opponent was on the floor doing his best to stand up and continue fighting.

"Bring it on tubby. I'm destroying you!" Wally taunted.

"Ahem."

Wally turned around ready to face who had challenged him next and blinked staring into the face of whom he assumed to be the principal.

"In my office now!" She ordered.

 _'Yep.'_ Wally thought to himself, _'Definitely the principal.'_

"So babe why did you want me all alone?"

Artemis smiled sweetly before grabbing the boy's hand and crushing it, "So no one could here your screams of pain." She said evilly laughing at his whimper.

* * *

Artemis sighed as she was shoved into the principals office and blinked before waving as she spotted Wally there.

"You two know each other?" She asked, confused.

"Yeah we're siblings new students actually today is our first day."

The principal looked at them like they were crazy before frowning, 'Like hell it was their first day.'

A few seconds later the principal was on a heated discussion on the phone and one hour later Wally and Artemis were on their way back to Mt. Justice, with one very annoyed Batman."

"You know we've already been homeschooled up until senior year technically we could enroll in college right now." Wally said.

"I didn't enroll the two of you in school to further your intelligence. I am already aware of your level of schooling. I enrolled you in school to learn communication skills and how to act with your fellow peers."

"We know how to interact with our peers." Artemis scoffed.

"In a non-violent way. I will just continue to enroll you in a multitude of schools if you guys continue to be expelled. I hope you are aware of that."

"We are now." Wally mumbled

Batman sighed inwardly this plan had better work.

* * *

Red rolls his eyes as he listens to Batman drone they're going undercover to Bell Rave to investigate what's going on there. Apparently it was suspicious that ice villains were being caught. He was probably right but still paranoid much? **  
**

Alice sighed, looking as though she was paying attention when in reality she was lost in her thoughts. Did Batman really think they were gonna help? The people in there were family mostly kinda. She wondered if she should just tell him about the warden and be done with. The only good thing about this is that they were going as themselves which meant they had to perform a crime and be captured. Her lips quirked up in a smirk, this was gonna be fun.

Alice smirked as Batman shoved her roughly into the car, somebody was still sore. Just because they were forced to be on this team didn't mean they'd play nice and they hadn't. Sure committing the crime was just a ploy to give them a reason to get arrested, didn't mean they were gonna down without a fight. **  
**

Red rolled his eyes, and stepped in on his own. His collar wasn't really on, so he swiftly dodged the push Batman had for him and sat on the bench. The minute the van door closed he turned to the person sitting next to him.

"Jr. how you been?"

Icicle Jr. raised an eyebrow at him. "Good and yourself?"

Red smiled deviously showing off all his teeth, "Just fine."

Alice rolled her own eyes and sighed, she really didn't wanna listen to Red flirting all the time. She really didn't understand his need to flirt with every single creature on earth but then again there was a lot she didn't understand about him.

"Alice!" Jr called out waving her over, "Come catch up I haven't seen you in a while."

"Yes well."

* * *

When they get to Belle Reve they immediately discover the ice villains are planning a break out and shrug, not their problem. Instead they spend their time catching up with old villains.

Though she'll deny it Alice is actually really happy to see Cameron again, even if he is a total pig. He always kept her safe from the actual pigs when Red wasn't around. So why shouldn't she help them out? There basically family even if his dad is a jerk. She snickers and wonders if they could have a who has the worse dad challenge. Looking around she notices Red is gone and rolls her eyes, he's probably off making out with some one under the guise of playing the game Too Hot.

Laying her bed Alice feels a weird presence in he head and immediately thinks of the jailbreak being planned and how she isn't going to tell the League, sometime during the night. She and Red are removed from Belle Reve and M'gann and Connor take their place as the Terror Twins.

Red knows why they're removed but says nothing, his mind works like that of a computer, he knows a lot of things and fugues them out quickly. He assumes that somehow the justice league figured out that they weren't gonna snitch and took them outta there, He's correct because a few days later when the prison realest is scheduled it doesn't go as plan.

There's a presence in his head and he starts to think about everything he knows about the Justice League, Martians and Atlanteans have a weakness to fire and heat. Superboy can't fly, Robin is merely human, one quick bullet...the thoughts are gone as soon as they come and he doesn't even remember thinking about them.

* * *

There's a new girl on their team and Red is quick to introduce himself to her. Robin obviously likes her even confronts him about it but unfortunately for him, Zatanna has a very overprotective father and what way to get under his skin then by dating the resident bad boy.

Alice herself has got Fishface wrapped around her finger, wearing her blonde hair down when he's alone batting her eyelashes. Oh yes Fishface would do just about anything for her. Him he has M'gann and Zatanna all over him. He's an assassin he knows how to manipulate people. M'gann took a little bit due to her obsessive crush on the human shield but Artemis took care of that.

Complimenting the meat shield falling on him asking for his protection. The simple minded teenage boy call out to a few macho characteristics and there putty in your hands. The only one unaffected is Robin, thought Alice and Red both believe its because he hasn't quite reached puberty yet.

Alice heads out on her own, wanting to explore and leaves Red at the base. She's barely made it one block away when she's confronted by Cheshire. Hugs are exchanged then teasing words that quickly turn into barbed jeers. There two seconds away from attacking each other when she disappears vanishes right in front of her.

Back at base, Red is working his magic on Zatanna relishing the angry look on Robin's face when the Flash comes running it. He takes a look at him and wraps him up in a giant hug much to his displeasure.

"Wally I've missed you!"

Red stiffens at the name it sounds familiar very familiar then he remembers it's the name that Batman gave them to go to school. Somehow he knows that isn't all the name is, it's more important than that. In the end it doesn't matter he as bigger problems to deal with.

"Do I know you?"

Flash opens his mouth to speak and shuts it as Batman places a hand on his shoulder "I um..."

He's cut off when both he and Batman vanish in strike of light. The other proteges start freaking out and Red can't help but hope that maybe Sportsmaster is gone too.

* * *

He's gone alright turns out all the adults in the world anyone over the age of eighteen had disappeared. Red can't bring himself to care, if they succeed Sportsmaster will be back. Of course that gets him in an argument with the team. Even Alice is trying to help bring back the adults, well to him it's not the same. He might not remember them much but he renumbers...he used to have a family that he was stolen from.

Red doesn't remember faces or names just emotions and feelings, in his run he ends up in central city and stops hearing a crying noise. Falling it Red stops and sees a baby stuck in a stroller wailing trying to reach for his bottle on the floor. He walks over and hands the baby his bottle who immediately stops crying and sucks it dry. He watches knowing what it feels like to be hopeless and unloved, no one else should feel this way.

In the end the adults are returned, he knew it d come to that. Unfortunately for Zatanna she doesn't have a father anymore. Red doesn't' quite know how to comfort her and a lot of problems arise from that situation alone.

* * *

They end up in Quraq on a mission and Red's head will not stop hurting no matter what he does so if hes a little snippy well can you blame him? Luckily for him Alice is here on the mission with him, but her head hurts too.

"Think it's Queen Bee?"

"It doesn't explain why only your heads hurt though?" Robin answers

"I guess so. It could be be cause we've spent most of our lives in close contact with her."

"I doubt it."

The conversation is cut short when military forces arrive and that stupid kid is running for the stupid animals and Red sees the looks on their faces, their eyes boring down on them and sighs. He runs over and grabs the kid before he is hurt and hands him back to his mother.

"I think were just about done here?"

Except their not. Another attack and a much needed blood transfusion later, Alice sits with her head in Red's lap trying to calm her headache while Red sits back annoyed. His head is throbbing and it feels as though Queen Bee is in the very house with the,...he doesn't want to think about it. He doesn't like her powers the ability to control someone like that it makes him feel weak and useless and vulnerable.

* * *

Alice likes magic, believes in it loves it. She finds it inserting and amazing and just all types of wonderful. Red on the Roth hand hates it so when they get a mission to find Kent the Dr. Fate she's ecstatic. Red is not. Alice thinks he's still bitter because he never got his acceptance letter to Hogwarts and proceeds to tell him that loudly in front of the whole team.

It's no surprise that they spend most of the mission arguing, and by the time anyone's able to reach Kent he's gone. What is surprising is that their fighting Klarion and he shows no surprise. I mean they're not wearing secret costumes or hiding their names they're fighting one of the members of the Light as Alice and Red. She knows what the Light is, her dad is a trained assassin and made sure she knew everything about everyone to keep herself safe.

"If you put the helmet on you'll never be able to take it off."

Alice watches and Klarion doesn't look like he cares so why warn him? Another look shows he's concerned about something but its obviously not them, he seems more worried about the helmet. The battle is won and later that night Red tells him everything Kent told him.

"Apparently their all holes in my mind. Someones been messing with my mind. I just thought I'd let you know..."

He trails off but Alice knows what he's gonna say, "In case there are holes in your mind too."

She wonders if she should tell him about Klarion's concerns about the helmet but decides not too. It could be a fluke but somehow she's knows it s not. If there are holes in Red's mind if somebody is controlling him they're probably controlling her too. The two of them are inseparable and everyone knows it. There in lies the problem they have no idea what their doing in life.

* * *

Everything goes well for a while, they're getting along with the team and making friends. For some reason Alice and Red start to associate themselves with Wally and Artemis. It's fine and everything is perfect or at least as perfect as can be then the world ends. They're in the arctic taking down giant monsters. Artemis is outside in the snow, "Got ya covered get inside I'm almost there!"

She shot an arrow and began running towards the ship, trying her best to get through the snow. Wally breath a sigh of relief she was gonna be fine, everything was gonna be-

"Artemis behind you!"

He turned and watched almost in slow motion, as Artemis was hit by a yellow beam, he could see the outline of her skeleton as she turned into dust and did nothing but stare.

"We have to get back to the ship." Aqualad commands.

Wally says nothing he's still standing there mind reeling, this can't be real, his mind is racing so fast the world starts to fade in and out. This is all fake, not real, not real. NOT REAL!

"ARTEMIS! ARTEMIS! NO! I'LL KILL EVERYBODY!"

"Wally!"

He ignores Kaldur's yelling and stalks up to M'gann and stares her dead in the eye.

"Wal-"

"This...is all your fault!" He shouts at her and in a second he vibrates his hand right through her stomach. Her eyes open in horror as tears of pain and anguish roll down her race.

He vaguely here's Superboy's yell as he's thrown to the ground, it's cold, so cold so bitterly cold. It's cold when he wakes up on a metal slab but at least Artemis is here safe and sound. The looks he gets aren't comforting but he could care less. He's barely listening to them talk.

"All changed when Artemis died."

"Killing M'gann...the shock work you guys up"

Batman walks up to him, "How did you know to kill M'gann? Why did you-"

"Because I was angry. I didn't plan on it, but I was gonna kill them all then go out with a bang the world was doomed anyway remember?"

The rest of the team is horrified or in Superboy's case furious, but Artemis smiles at him and Wally knows if he had to kill a thousand people he'd do it. Just to keep her safe.

* * *

It all comes to end during a mission to Biayla, they wake up confused in a warehouse and assume it's a test by Sportsmaster. They end up killing hundreds of soldiers without a fight, they're not Artemis and Wally anymore they're Alice and Red.

"What do we do now?"

"I don't know."

Before anyone can answer a being drops down from the sky sending them flying in opposite directions. Superboy. He lunges for them only to be deterred by tanks and rips off the remaining pieces of his shirt and goes after them instead.

Red races over to Artemis remembering the orders of Sportsmaster's, "You run into superheroes you run." It's easier said then done, especially when one has no food left. So when they run into M'gann both are tried and hungry and ready to be out of the desert. Letting her capture them seemed to be the best bet at the time.

Except she plunges into their minds and restores their memories but then she sees the holes and without thinking does what it is natural to her, she fixes it. When she removes herself from their minds they pass out and she leaves to go find Superboy. Robin is left by himself and decides that Aqualad is of bigger importance and goes to find him.

When they wake up they know of everything,. Psimon had been controlling them, using them to send information to the League of Shadows and the Light. What's worse is that J'onn discovered this and molded their minds so they only told them false information. Batman knew about this as did the rest of the League. Artemis and Wally for that's what their real names are, are hurt and shocked. In the on coming argument, everything comes to head.

"NO RIGHT!"

"Violation of privacy!"

"Protecting the team!"

In the end they decide to leave, it's obvious they dont' belong and they most likely never would. Oddly enough it's Superboy who asks the question, sounding very much like a small child.

"Will you be coming back?

Neither of them have an answer for it and all they can do is shrug, and Wally scoops up Artemis and runs. They're done with fighting for a while whether it be with the villains or the heroes. They just wanna live life while they can and discover who they really are.

A life were they're in control for once.


End file.
